


There’s Only One Thing Stopping Me

by goldenserpents



Category: Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: F/M, One Shot, Post Episode 8 Season 3, Season 3 Spoilers, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2019-11-11
Packaged: 2021-01-27 17:14:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21395764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldenserpents/pseuds/goldenserpents
Summary: What if Anne Shirley Cuthbert had turned and followed Gilbert Blythe after he essentially confessed to her by the fireside.Post 3.08
Relationships: Gilbert Blythe & Anne Shirley, Gilbert Blythe/Anne Shirley
Comments: 8
Kudos: 331





	There’s Only One Thing Stopping Me

—————————————————————

Anne’s head was starting to develop a dull ache. Half of the reason had been the moonshine that the boys had brought along to the students’ secret graduation ceremony, and the other half was because of the fact that Gilbert Blythe was sitting in front of her, basically confessing that she was the reason holding him back from the Sarbonne and from (this was the part that not only made her head ache but also her heart, soul and entire existence) proposing to Winifred Rose. 

The heat from the bonfire they were sitting in front of felt as if it was burning into her skin. She couldn’t breathe. She just gawped at him as he bored into her with what seemed like hopeful eyes. 

“What- I- But- I don’t- You were-“ she found herself gabbling nonsense as a response, and all Gilbert did was stare at her longer. The hope was faltering in his eyes and it started to break Anne’s heart all over again. 

She heard the girls approaching from behind them but she didn’t hear a word of what they were saying. All she heard was her heart beat in her ears and her hard and shallow breathing. 

“I shall get going then” Gilbert started, as she felt herself being grabbed by her friends and pulled to her feet. 

She didn’t want him to leave. She didn’t want him to marry Winifred. She didn’t know how she felt, but she was pretty sure she now understood how he felt. She didn’t turn as he inevitably and sadly walked away. 

She looked into the fire. She said nothing. 

Then suddenly her mind became clear. She saw an image of her and Gilbert in front of the Cuthbert’s Christmas tree, blowing out a candle simultaneously and Anne felt, what was it, sparks, heat; she saw an image of her and Gilbert outside the church when Mary and Bash got married, comfortable as friends and equals finally, knowing that he wasn’t leaving anytime soon; she saw an image of them crying together, hugging outside the Blythe house before Mary had passed; she saw an image of them dancing together in the school house and she felt a warmth growing inside her.

She saw an image of him, Gilbert, centimetres away from her face as they sat contentedly on Miss Stacey’s porch, with so much beauty in his eyes. So much romance.

Had Ruby been talking about that when she commented on how he looked upon confronting him about the Take Notice board. Is this what that was? 

Then it hit her like a ton of bricks had fallen on her from metres above. 

She was in love with Gilbert Blythe.

It had gone unnoticed that Anne had not moved nor said anything for a few minutes as thankfully it seemed the girls were fairly inebriated from moonshine. Anne herself now felt stone cold sober. 

What she did next surprised her, as it seemed her legs and heart were in conspiracy against her head. 

She turned so fast on her heels she almost fell over. On seeing that Gilbert had already disappeared from view, into the darkness of the path home, her legs started to move quickly in the direction she assumed he had gone. 

Her legs then started to run. She felt a warm wind on her cheeks as she gained speed. She could see the faint light of Gilbert’s lantern in the distance. She mustered up any extra breath to shout out to him. 

“Gilbert!” It came out as a strange strangled scream. Breathing heavily she tried again. 

“GILBERT!”

She saw his silhouette now and it had started to slow down. 

What on earth was she going to say to him? She had no idea how she even felt, let alone how to enuciate her thoughts into a language he might understand. 

She had reached him now and his face was stricken with worry and concern.

“Anne! What’s wrong?”

“Don’t do it!”

She was utterly breathless and her speech came out almost as a whisper.

“What?”

She cleared her throat. 

“Don’t marry her.” 

Tears were stinging the corner of her eyes, both from the running and from the overwhelming emotions she was feeling. 

“Don’t marry Winifred.”

Gilbert was stunned for words, so Anne continued as if automatically. 

“I don’t understand why you would say that to me if you didn’t want me to tell you not to propose.”

She avoided his gaze now but felt it burning into her. 

“Is this to say then, that you have feelings not related to Winifred? You must be clear and honest as I can’t get to grips with any of this.”

She met his gaze now and he noticed a tear trail down her left side cheek. 

He inhaled sharply. 

“You. You’re the thing holding me back.”

He mentally slapped himself as he realised how harsh he had sounded. 

“No- I mean- not holding me back but.. stopping me from proposing.”

He reached through the darkness to find her had and when he did, Anne noticed how different it felt to before when he had helped her off the boat on which she was dancing. This felt romantical and as if it were written in the pages of a book.

“I have felt this way for so long but must have always been blind to it. I started to realise the moment I went to tea with Winnie and imagined what having tea with you would be like, and all of the things we could talk about.” 

He moved closer to her. 

“But I understand now that was because I had feelings for you and not Winifred. But then I was scared and confused. I came to you tonight to ask for your advice in the hope that your feelings would be the same and they would become apparent to you and to me. And when I saw you dancing in front of the flames-“

Anne heard Gilbert’s voice falter as if he had something stuck in his throat. ‘His heart perhaps’ she thought, ‘as that is definitely where my heart has decided to lodge itself.’ 

“I’m in love with you Anne Shirley Cuthbert, and I came here to tell you but I was embarrassed and couldn’t spit it out earlier.” 

Those were the words that did it. Those were the words drove her crazy. Those were the words that gave her the answer she was looking for. 

“I- “ she started, but before she could finish her sentence Gilbert had finally closed the space between them, as she felt the warmth of his lips against hers. 

It felt as if sparks of electricity were running through her veins, starting from her lips and going all the way down to her toes. This was of course made even worse (or better) when Gilbert moved one hand to her face, running it through her hair and down to the small of her back. 

The kiss was only broken when the two needed to take in some air. Anne felt the warmth rising in her cheeks and saw the same in Gilbert’s face.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help it.” They both laughed sweetly. 

“You were going to say something. Um, before, you know..”

She smiled and said:

“I was going to say ‘I love you too.’”


End file.
